Wrapping machine operators understand the importance of providing an adequate containment force on the vertical sides of their loads using packaging material, and doing so at a minimum cost. Achieving this can be difficult. Major suppliers of packaging material often times offer several types of packaging materials for sale. Moreover, each type of packaging material may be offered in multiple gauges. Thus, wrapping machine operators need to evaluate and select from many alternative types and gauges of packaging material. Furthermore, there are a large number of combinations of containment force, packaging material gauge, and packaging material types that may potentially provide an adequate containment force, making evaluating the packaging materials an even more complex task.
In order to understand how to provide an adequate containment force on the vertical sides of their loads at a minimum cost, wrapping machine operators look for ways to identify and understand the characteristics of a range of packaging materials that impact load holding effectiveness and cost. Typically, evaluating individual packaging materials is done on actual production wrapping machines. The process entails experimenting with packaging materials in an attempt to identify or predict wrapping machine settings at which the packaging materials being tested exert an adequate containment force on the load, with an acceptable number of packaging material breaks during wrapping. Determining an adequate containment force includes performing shipping tests on wrapped loads, and using a containment force tool to measure those wrapped loads that passed the shipping tests while remaining intact, and thus, are held with an adequate containment force.
Then by cutting off the layers of packaging material from the load and weighing them, the weight of the packaging material providing the adequate containment force can be found. This approach for evaluating packaging materials is problematic due to the number of variables involved, and because a large sample size is typically required. The cost, time, and risk of the above-described approach discourages most companies from evaluating packaging materials, including new and possibly more effective formulations, to avoid having to test them and/or having to recalibrate their wrapping machines.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the above-noted problems, and/or other problems in the art.